I think I ended up as Forbes' business travel blogger because I’m the only Wharton MBA to become a travel writer. I grew up in New England and worked in finance in Tokyo before B-school. Later I moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry.
In 1998, stunned by my only ever layoff, I began exercising skills (and, let's be frank, pleasures) I’d long left dormant: writing and traveling. A decade and a half later: so far, so good. In addition to Forbes, I’ve been published from Travel+Leisure and the Los Angeles Times to dozens of Lonely Planet titles. I can speak Japanese and French, read Korean menus and embarrass myself in Spanish, Italian and Chinese.
And I continue to polish my business chops with cross-cultural consulting work for companies across the US. In my most traveled year, I logged over 140,000 air miles.
You can see more on my personal blog, wheres-andy-now.com.

Layoffs At Lonely Planet: Writing On The Wall For Guide Books?

Is the guide book being put out to sea? Lonely Planet says no. (Photo credit: jaybergesen)

Lonely Planet, the world’s largest travel guide book publisher, announced last week that it is laying off several dozen top editors and publishing staff. The move leaves many wondering about the future of the company, guide books and travel writing itself.

Theo Sathananthan, Lonely Planet’s Chief Financial Officer, says that through layoffs and redeployment, up to 80 out of 400 staff positions will be “made redundant” across the company’s five offices worldwide. About 200 authors and 25 others also freelance for Lonely Planet. The three largest offices are in Melbourne, Australia; London; and Oakland, California.

Although cuts are being made across divisions, the departure of longstanding editorial staff is generating the most attention. “It’s like a plane hitting the building,” says one long-serving Lonely Planet author, speaking on condition of anonymity. The biggest concern is over the potential loss of institutional knowledge (of destinations, research methods, journalistic skills, etc.) that has built the brand into one of the industry’s most respected.

“Editorial integrity and quality content is at the heart of Lonely Planet,” reads a message to employees from the executive team.

Lonely Planet on the rack. (Photo credit: Stephen Cummings)

The company says it will continue to publish guide books, though it is unclear how many; according to its website, Lonely Planet currently sells 500 titles, covering 195 countries. COO Daniel Houghton also speaks of marrying “the world’s greatest travel information and guide book company with the limitless potential of 21st century digital technology,” for example: apps, social media, cloud-based content and content generated by users and readers.

Some industry experts have their doubts. “No user-generated content…can compete with the context and cumulative knowledge that the Lonely Planet library has,” says writer and videographer Robert Reid of Reid on Travel, who was Lonely Planet’s spokesperson until earlier this year.

Since its debut in the early 1970s, Lonely Planet has become iconic among backpackers and budget travelers, independent travelers and those seeking the road less taken. It started when a young couple, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, traveled on the cheap through Europe and Asia to Australia. Finding no decent guide book, they wrote one at their dining room table. It sold 1,500 copies.

A mention in a Lonely Planet guide, such as for this restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam, can make or break a business. (Photo credit: goosmurf)

40 years and 120 million books later, Lonely Planet is the world’s largest-selling guide book series, and the only one covering certain far-flung destinations; Reid cites books on remote locations in Africa, the Middle East and South Pacific. An estimated 120 million unique visitors view its website annually.

Despite Lonely Planet’s reputation as the backpacker’s bible, former backpackers who now can afford pricier options still rely on its careful research, detail and down-to-earth, occasionally snarky writing style. In some countries, listings in Lonely Planet can boost business for attractions, hotels or restaurants.

Lonely Planet’s ownership has changed twice in the last several years. In 2007, the Wheelers sold it to BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the U.K. broadcaster, for GBP£130.2 million (about US$200 million at the time). This March, BBC Worldwide sold it to NC2 of Nashville, Tennessee, for GBP£51.5 million (US$69 million), a loss of almost GBP£79 million (US$121 million at current exchange rates). At the time of the sale, the BBC described NC2 as a “media company primarily engaged in the creation, acquisition, and distribution of quality digital content.”

Houghton says that the latest round of management shifts “will enable Lonely Planet to be well positioned for ongoing success and investing in the future in line with our 40 year heritage.” Houghton is also NC2’s Executive Director.

Meanwhile, Arthur Frommer, the dean of American guide book publishers, has repurchased the rights to the guide book series that bears his name, from Google, which acquired them in 2012. With his daughter Pauline, he plans to publish a reported 80 titles by the end of 2014.

Note: I have written and contributed to guide books and numerous other titles for Lonely Planet.

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I am so sad to learn of the cuts in Lonely Planet’s staff. Thank you for letting us know this disappointing news — I actually teared up. Sure, so often these lay-offs are in the name of improving and streamlining or to create better “efficiencies”. I consider myself a capitalist and I am a former private equity fund manager who understands that “expense cuts” are part of the reality in sectors that just aren’t flourishing. However, I am an ardent fan of Lonely Planet and believe that the quality of the travel information is directly based on the authors having enough time and resources to properly visit and investigate countries. Plus, there’s so much historical background research that goes into those brilliant books. In the past six months, I have been to eight countries — including trekking on the beautiful pampas of Tajikistan, playing chess in the Republic of Georgia, snorkeling in St. Maarten and wandering the backstreets of Ho Chi Minh City. The authors of the Lonely Planet books are my companions and friends. They have kept me out of trouble, found me incredible adventures, directed me to some of the best food in the world and have provided me with invaluable information, cultural insight and chronicles on obscure towns, villages and battles for freedom. If the answer to preventing these layoffs is charging us ardent fans more money for those books, I am the first one to say that I would happily pay triple or quadruple for my Lonely Planet friends to continue being next to me on my journeys — keeping me safe, saving me money, and opening up the world with fierce enthusiasm. God Bless You.

Yes well, it’s capitalists including, inter alia, private equity fund managers, who are squeezing the life out of everything, in the name of “streamlining and better efficiencies”. And if some of your favorite products end up going out of business, or severely diluted, or altered, in the name of “streamlining and better efficiencies” don’t complain.

I am a big fan of Lonely Planet guidebooks. There are other places to read “user-generated content.” But the research and insight that makes Lonely Planet such a valuable resource for the backpacker-budget traveler is unique.

I understand the need to be more digitally oriented. It makes sense that a lot of travelers would want to access info via their mobile devices rather than carry around a guidebook. Given how high quality Lonely Planet is, I would expect it to be as much of a draw online as it is in print — even if there is a charge for travelers to access detailed info about particular destinations (where to stay, eat, get the best massage, best hours to hit the museum, lesser known sights to see, etc.).

But to dilute the quality of the content with random “user” reviews? It sounds like a farewell to writing skill, reliable research, and a fair and trustworthy point of view. I hope these users are meant to be a supplement to — not a substitution for — the paid-to-be-good-at-what-they-do writers who make Lonely Planet so great.